Turning Points & Life Gates in Your Life

God works all things together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 A life plan (see earlier blog) includes the identification and analysis of Turning Points and Life Gates in your life. A Turning Point is a major milestone in your life. It’s a shift from one era of your life to another. It may be punctuated by a major decision or event. Such events could be marriage, death, leaving home, divorce, graduation, career shifts, retirement, etc. It could be a tragedy or crisis that you experienced. Regardless, the future will be different from the past after a turning point. It is not unusual for a person who is 50 or older to have 10 – 15 turning points. Where you find yourself today – closer to God or more remote, on or off the track vocationally or in your family or personal life – can be seen clearly through the perspective of your turning points and their control path. Life domains are impacted during a turning point (see the earlier blog on life domains). You can gain perspective about the balance of your life as well as the general results that key decisions and events seem to have caused by reflecting the control path in your life. You will also see the focus of energy in your life during any one period. There are also life gates. A life gate is a super-turning point, a supreme event, in your life. All domains of life may have been impacted in a powerful way during a life gate. Major doors may have been opened wide or slammed shut. A life gate either closes off the old part of life, or opens the gate to a new life, or both. Generally speaking people have very few life gates in their life, perhaps only 3 or 4. As you look back over the turning points and life gates, you can identify the patterns, trends, and themes of your life. You can begin answering the following questions: What did this mean to me? Why did this period have value to me? What were the critical consequences related to this event? Patterns are combinations of acts, qualities, and tendencies that form a consistent or characteristic arrangement in your life. Trends are the general direction, the prevailing tendency, the drift in your life. Themes are the dominant, recurring messages of your life. Finally, you can begin to draw some conclusions about what you see in your life story. Very specific lessons and conclusions can be drawn from reflection upon your turning points and life gates. These insights can be both immediate and delayed. Regardless of the insights, keep the following in mind: 1. God desires change and growth in you. 2. God wastes no experience in your life. 3. God works all things together for good to those who love Him. Another benefit of understanding turning points is the ability to recognize them as they are occurring. Are you in a turning point or life gate right now? Truth@Life can help you, regardless of your location. Call 248-396-6255 or email me at curtis.songer@gmail.com for a free consultation. If you receive value from these blogs, please consider donating to keep this blog site up and running. This ministry cannot continue without the generous donations of its readers. Just click on the "Donate" button in the upper right. For more info on help I can provide check out http://truthatlife.com/ or email me directly at curtis.songer@gmail.com